When you're ready to upgrade your home network, you may look for great Wi-Fi signal or range, gigabit ethernet ports on the back for super-speedy data transfer, simple setup and configuration, or even good looks and a great price. Whatever your shopping criteria may be, there are a number of great routers that fit the bill. Last week, we asked you which ones you thought were the best of breed. Then we took a look at the five best wi-fi routers based on your nominations, and put them all to a vote. Now we're back to highlight the surprise winner.

Considering the winning percentage is only 28%, you know that not only was voting fierce, but heavily split among all five contenders. In second place with close to 21% of the votes cast was the venerable, long-lived Linksys WRT54G, which lacks some of the speed of its successors, but still holds a place of honor as one of the most customizable and tweakable routers available. Right behind it with 20% of the vote in third place was the Linksys E Series, the company's successor to the WRT-line. Right behind it in fourth place was the Netgear N Series (WNDR model numbers) with 19% of the overall vote. Finally, in fifth place with over 11% of the votes cast was the ASUS RT Series.

The Hive Five is based on reader nominations. As with most Hive Five posts, if your favorite was left out, it's not because we hate it—it's because it didn't get the nominations required in the call for contenders post to make the top five. We understand it's a bit of a popularity contest, but if you have a favorite, we want to hear about it. Have a suggestion for the Hive Five? Send us an email at tips+hivefive@lifehacker.com!